Moroccan Cities Make Global Top 1000 List, But Face Challenges in Key Areas

A recent report by the British institution Oxford Economics titled Global Cities Index for the year 2025 ranks Casablanca, Rabat, Tangier, Fez, Marrakech, Agadir and Meknes among the 1000 major cities around the world, according to five main indicators. These indicators are: economic performance, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance.

Casablanca leads the Moroccan cities. It ranks 431st globally, ahead of the capital Rabat (447th). Tangier takes 584th place, Fez 640th, Marrakech 648th, Agadir 656th, and Meknes 682nd. In detail, Casablanca shows mixed results: 412th for economy, 260th for human capital, but 584th for quality of life, 555th for environment and 596th for governance. Rabat, the Moroccan capital, ranks 398th economically, 463rd for human capital, 557th for quality of life, 292nd for environment, and 596th for governance.

Tangier displays a low economic ranking (613th), human capital at 691st place, and quality of life ranked 687th. Despite their undeniable cultural weight, Fez and Marrakech visibly face environmental challenges (645th and 654th respectively) and governance issues (596th for both). Agadir and Meknes take 656th and 682nd places respectively, with a strong decline in economic matters (719th and 707th) and quality of life (742nd and 786th). Regarding the governance indicator, the six main cities of the country do not show impressive performances: they all obtained the same score (596th).

On a global scale, New York retains its place as the largest city in the world for the second consecutive year. This feat is explained by strong economic performance, high human capital, good quality of life and effective governance. The American city is followed by London, Paris, San Jose and Seattle. The institution attributes this dominance to strong economic performance, high human capital, good quality of life and effective governance.

No African city appears in the top 100. Cities like Dakar, Oran and Kampala find themselves at the bottom of the ranking.